Report: K-1 Grand Prix 2011 Cancelled

Sorry Badr Hari, looks like you won't get your last shot at the K-1 crown. Photo from 2009 K-1 Grand Prix by Daniel Herbertson.

It looks like the dreams of a 2011 K-1 World Grand Prix may finally be dead. Reports are beginning to surface that the Final 16 of the Grand Prix, scheduled for October 29 in Nanjing, China, has been cancelled, though there is still no official word from K-1.
The most credible report comes from Anil Dubar, manager to K-1 fighter Daniel Ghita, who announced on a Dutch blog that the Final 16 event was cancelled. This news is not much of a surprise, as it comes at the end of a week full of last minute scrambling on K-1's part.
As we reported last week, Tyrone Spong confirmed that, as of one week ago, he had not been paid for past K-1 fights and was unlikely to participate in this year's tournament. We've known for quite some time that many fighters were still waiting for payments, which could potentially cripple the 2011 tournament. Then, earlier this week, news came out that K-1 was working to take care of this problem, but in a rather odd way.LiverKick.com reports that K-1 did indeed offer some of this year's Final 16 fighters a contract for the Final 16 event, but that by signing the contract those fighters would have to forfeit their rights to half of the money due to them from previous fights. It's unknown exactly who was offered this deal, or if anyone signed it.
One thing we do know - fighters represented by It's Showtime (the European organization who is helping promote the Grand Prix and manages many of the fighters involved) were not given this offer. It's Showtime President Simon Rutz has been very vocal about his fighters' lack of pay and the fact that if this was not sorted out, his fighters would not take part. He gave K-1 a deadline of this past Friday to receive payment. Again, LiverKick.com reports that as of Sunday, there is no word of that payment.
Finally, there is no mention of the event on the website for the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium (the alleged site of the show) nor any information on how to purchase tickets.
With only two weeks until the show, tickets not on sale, fighters and managers publicly saying that they are off the show, and K-1's biggest partner gearing up to pull their fighters, it certainly seems like this is a done deal. I would expect K-1 will keep trying to pull it together and will resist officially cancelling until the last minute. Given their track record, don't be surprised if they actually cancel the Final 16, but still say a Final 8 will happen in December. But at this point, it's time to accept facts. The best kickboxing tournament in the world is over.
Rest in Peace K-1 Grand Prix.

" Martin Kampmann comes from behind more often than Lance Bass.." --Joe Rogan

Kazuyoshi Ishii officially announced FIKA today, and has promised it will be a new day for K-1 worldwide. FIKA is the Federation International K-1 Association, and will apparently be the new governing body for K-1. There will be a K-1 World Grand Prix in 2012, but to fully grasp what Ishii and his new partners have planned, think big.

FIKA is to be headquartered in Hong Kong and they are going to appeal big time to Chinese audiences by having some of their biggest shows take place in China. There will still be a "World Stage" event in Japan, but it doesn't appear to be the Finals. They are looking to hold events around the world to bring a 'World Cup' feeling and will try to be the FIFA of Kickboxing. FIKA has also brought on famous Chinese folk singer Song Zuying to sing the official FIKA theme song, which was apparently the big headline grabber in China in regards to this announcement, on top of the list of famous people at the event. The theme song will apparently be recorded in English as well, which Zuying was quoted saying it would help FIKA have a global appeal.

Seven Star Entertainment Fund, a branch of Sun Redrock Investment Group will serve as a partner in FIKA, owning about 60%, with the rest of the management team comprising the remaining 40%. Who is actually a part of this team outside of Ishii is not clear, but with the rumors of Bas Boon looking to invest in K-1 and this looking to be the future of K-1 and Bas Boon was on stage for the announcement with Semmy Schilt, it would be hard not to make connections. FIKA is looking to make for a much stronger push into the United States and China for K-1 and be less Japan-centric.

As of press time there is no firm details on a schedule or possible television deals. The only schedule is a rough one on the FIKA website's press release, which states April for the world qualifiers, May/June for the 32 stage, Sept/Oct for the 16 stage and Oct to December for the Final 8. This will be in three weight classes; 63kg, 70kg and 100kg.